Rugged flash drive has built-in security

Engineers at Apacer have designed a ruggedflash drive for extreme military environments that comes with built-in security features to prevent enemy eyes from ever seeing the secure data. The 2.5" Serial ATA FlashDrive (SAFD 25P) has ATA secure erase and S.M.A.R.T. functions that basically act as a kill switch, erasing the data if it is about to be taken by unwanted entities. Once the signal to erase is sent, the device will continue to purge the drive even if the enemy takes possession of it. The Apacer device’s mil-spec secure erase and write protect features can be triggered through hardware and software, and are integrated into the SSD firmware to make sure it fulfills military requirements.

Apacer’s new device is fitted in a rugged aluminum housing for greater heat resistance. Its storage capacity is as much as 512 GB, and it uses industrial SLC NAND flash chips with an extended temperature range of -40 °C to +85 °C. The new device replaces 2.5" SATA HDDs and has global wear-leveling and block management, intelligent power failure recovery, and trim command support. The SAFD 25P’s 7+15 pin male connector comes in 32 GB, 64 GB,128 GB, and 256 GB capacities. It sequential read and write speeds are as fast as 265 and 230 MBps.